Food allergies

I have 5 boys, and they are wonderful, wonderful little guys. My 4th, Ammon, has always (or nearly always) had problems with skin rashes and irritations, especially on his feet.

It started when he started eating "people-food", around the time he weaned himself and started eating solid foods. About this time, he started to scratch his feet and legs. Of course, they started to bleed and get all crusty, etc. He shows signs of excema, which is increased because we live in a desert. We had him allergy tested. I'm glad I wasn't there the first time we did, because holding down a screaming 1 1/2 year old to do skin pricks is not my idea of fun. I was watching the other kids while Sara took him. Anyway, that test came out negative on all substances.

About a month or maybe a month and a half ago, he ate a PB&J on wheat bread. He actually ate the bread too. Usually he just licks the peanut butter off or fingerpaints with it. We knew that he could possibly have a problem with peanuts, because his attitude would change, and he would break out more. He started complaining about his mouth and tongue hurting. Sara took him to the doctor and they did a blood allergy test. They drew his blood then tested it.

The tests came back, and we were very surprised at what they said. Ammon, who is 2, came back with an allergy to wheat, soy, eggs (ok, egg whites, but who is going to separate them for him?), milk, corn and peanuts. Holy crap.

Finally, we had some answers. But now, what the crap do we feed him? It turns out, that if it doesn't have wheat in it, it's going to have corn or some kind of corn product in it. So his sandwhich that he ate carried at least 3 of his known allergens: wheat, peanuts, and high frucose corn syrup. Sara really struggled for a long time. I guess it would be guilt for feeding him, and/or overwhelmed at the prospect of having to feed him food not containing those things. She figured it out, and took him off of those things, and his feet got better. But now he likes to sneak food when nobody's looking. And his feet now show it.

Then we thought that if Ammon had allergies, what about the other 4? We had Hyrum, Noah and Daniel tested. We'll test Sam at about 1 year. Hyrum came back with a milk allergy, Noah came back with a wheat and egg allergy, and Daniel came back with nothing. So now, we have 3 out of 4 tested (3/5 overall) that have food allergies. Noah and Ammon also have outdoor and animal allergies too. Are you going to try to keep a two year old inside during the summer? Especially when his favorite things to do are "push you swing", or "push me at da swing" depending on how he's feeling, and "jump on the tramp" which is short for trampoline. Don't get any ideas...

So Hyrum can have cereal, but he can't have "normal" milk. Noah can have non-wheat cereal and milk. Daniel can have whatever we feed him. Ammon can have Rice Chex and some speciality organic cereal that doesn't have HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) and rice milk. His diet consists mostly of rice-based products. That and meat and potatoes. Good thing he's a carnivore!

Me? I'm allergic to sugar. Not really, but because I'm diabetic, I basically am.